SUMMARY
Are you making progress in your Christian life? Are you growing? Are you living better, feeling better, getting stronger, experiencing more joy, experiencing peace in the midst of trials, or gaining emotional stability? Every one of us has milestone moments. Milestone moments matter. Milestones and successes should be celebrated. Celebration is an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. Celebration is giving attention to the transcendent meaning of your actions.
The Cast of the Celebration 1-26
Nehemiah lists the guests of honor invited to his celebration.
There were over 50 Priests, Levites and gatekeepers mentioned.
They were experts at leading thanksgiving Psalms.
When throwing a celebration, it doesn’t hurt to invite guests of honor.
The Invitation 27-29
This was a personal invitation.
They were looking for any who could sing or play instruments.
The Celebration 30-43
Stage 1 – Preparation 30
Before they celebrated God’s goodness, they purified themselves.
Water was used in ritual cleansing (Lev 15:5; Ezek 36:25).
This was a special cleansing for a special event.
Ritual cleansing is a picture of spiritual cleansing.
If we confess our sins, he will cleanse us.” 1 John 1:7 & 9
Cleansing is the preparation for celebrating God’s goodness.
Stage Two – Parade 31-39
One parade went right, the other went left.
This was a festival with trumpets blowing and people rejoicing.
Stage Three – Performance – Concert in the Temple 40-43
The two thanksgiving choirs gave a resounding concert.
The Priests offered great sacrifices & the people rejoiced with great joy.
The celebration could be heard for miles away.
We could use a little bit more celebration and joy in our churches. Sure we are being plotted against by the Sanballats of our world, but Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!” (Matthew 16:18) Needed: Smiling, singing, Celebrating Saints! We should take every opportunity to celebrate the successes and milestones of the people in our church. The more we celebrate God’s goodness, the more successful our church will be. Let us be known as rejoicing, redeemed, Christians who are growing daily and celebrating it!
MESSAGE
Are you making progress in your Christian life?
Are you growing? Are you living better, feeling better, getting stronger, experiencing more joy, experiencing peace in the midst of trials, or gaining emotional stability? Sometimes it’s difficult to know if we are growing until we look back, one year, five years or ten years and evaluate our progress.
With that in mind, let me ask you a few questions, and I want you to reflect back a year or two and ask yourself if you have grown in these key areas of the Christian life:
1. Are you praying more or more passionately and effectively? (Yes or No)
2. Are you learning and studying the bible more deeply or spending more time doing so?
3. Are you more committed to corporate worship than you were a year ago? Have you expanded your commitments to Christ beyond just Sunday morning church?
4. Are you more successfully serving Christ and impacting people while doing so?
5. Are you witnessing regularly and more effectively?
6. Have you overcome a bad habit, or addiction and are you resisting sin steadfastly as never before?
7. Are you spending more time with fellow believers, developing deeper relationships in the church and fellowshipping more intimately?
8. Are you more grateful, hopeful, joyful, or more at peace deep in your spirit? Are you kinder to others, gentler, or more patient than you were a year ago?
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you’ve got some work to do if you want to grow spiritually. If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then I give you permission to pat yourself on the back and celebrate your progress! These are critically important milestones!
Every one of us has milestone moments. There are spiritual milestones (those are the best). There are financial milestones, like getting out of debt or purchasing a home. There are physical milestones, like eating better, losing some excess weight, or beating smoking. There are family milestones for better relationships with spouse, children or grandchildren. And personal milestones like getting a degree or a better job.
Milestone moments matter. Milestones and successes should be celebrated. Celebration is an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. Celebration is giving attention to the transcendent meaning of your actions.
Celebrating shouldn’t just be reserved for birthdays, weddings, and graduations, we should regularly take the time to step back and recognize the effort that went into achieving that big success or even a modest win. By celebrating our successes, we are reinforcing the motivation that will carry us through the next achievement. Nothing locks in learning like a party.
So, I give you permission to throw a party and reward yourself for making progress! When you reach one of your goals, plan to indulge in a piece of your favorite chocolate, order lunch from your favorite restaurant, throw a celebration with family, take a short vacation, or reward yourself with a special gift.
Acknowledging milestones gives us the opportunity to reflect on where we have been, where we are now and how far we have come. More importantly, celebrating milestones reminds us to give thanks to God for his graciousness.
Nehemiah is going to model what a grand celebration should look like. Oh that we would learn to party like Nehemiah! They just reached a powerful milestone. All this time they’ve been sweating, working and just trying to survive, now that the wall is finished it’s time to celebrate.
There comes a time in every life, in every church, where should break out in celebration and joy. This is that time. And Nehemiah did it up good. He invited everybody! He held a grand parade an incredible concert, and capped it off with some wonderful worship. Let’s get in on the celebration.
The Cast of the Celebration 1-26
In verses 1- 26 Nehemiah lists the guests of honor invited to his celebration. They were were the Priests, Levites and gatekeepers. There were over 50 worship leaders mentioned. According to verse 8, they were experts at leading thanksgiving Psalms.
When throwing a celebration, it doesn’t hurt to invite a few guests of honor. It make the moment even more memorable and exciting.
The Invitation 27-29
In verses 27-29 we find the invitation to this celebration. It was a personal invitation, face to face. Verse 27 says, “They sought out the Levites to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with rejoicing.” They were specifically looking for any of them who could sing, play cymbals, stringed instruments or harps.
The Celebration 30-43
In verses 30-43, we have the celebration recorded for posterity. We know how they did it. And they did it in three stages. Here is the order of service for the celebration. Stage 1 – Preparation of the people. Stage 2 is the Parade, and Stage 3 was a grand performance with pomp and ceremony at the Temple itself.
Stage 1 – Preparation
30 Then the priests and Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, the gates, and the wall.
Before they celebrated God’s goodness in worship, they prepared themselves by the process of ritual purification. Water was used in this ritual in the same way that an unclean person could be purified (Lev 15:5; Ezek 36:25). They also purified the gates and walls; this may have been a mere sprinkling of water, or it could have been a washing of the filth.
The people were to wash their clothes and bathe before they joined the parade. It is nice to have clean bodies, especially in a dusty world where water was scarce and bathing was something of a special event. They did not bathe themselves daily like we do. They daily washed the hands and the feet, but not the whole body. So this ritual cleansing was a special event.
This was a picture of spiritual cleansing. The Jews were, of all ancient peoples, the most aware of how sinful, how unclean they were before God and how much they needed to be cleansed from their sins: [i]
“Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you.” Isaiah 59:2
We should also purify ourselves before God: 1 John 1:7 & 9, the blood of Jesus, purifies us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
That is the preparation for celebrating God’s goodness.
Stage Two – Parade
31 So I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall, and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs. One went to the right hand on the wall toward the Refuse Gate.
38 The other thanksgiving choir went the opposite way, and I was behind them with half of the people on the wall
What a parade this was. One went right, the other went left. Half the people went one way and half went the other. As they marched, the priests Blew the trumpets (35) and the Levites played musical Instruments (36). It was a marching band. Ezra the priest led the parade that went to the right and Nehemiah followed the parade that marched to the Left.
This was not a parade for onlookers, everyone was invited to march! It was not a solemn moment, it was a festival! There were trumpets blowing, cymbals clashing, Singers crooning, people clapping, children laughing, women dancing, men shouting and everyone rejoicing. And it didn’t stop there.
Stage Three – Performance – Concert in the Temple
40 So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God, 43 Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off.
When they finally got off the wall, the two competing thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God and gave a resounding concert. The choirs sang loudly. There were likely speeches from notable men. The Priests offered great sacrifices, and the people rejoiced with great joy.
And listen to what verse 43 says. The Priest, the Levites, the band, the choir, the great crowd of men, women and children rejoiced so loud that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off.
Somewhere outside the gates, the news reached their enemies ears and was passed on by messenger to Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem; “there is a great celebration going on in Jerusalem, we could hear them miles away. They shouted and sang for hours. And those three enemies shook their heads in disgust and defeat.
Meanwhile there was joy in Jerusalem and the celebration continued!
You know, we could use a little bit more celebration and joy in our churches. Sure we are being plotted against by the Sanballats and Tobiahs of our world, but Jesus himself said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!” Matthew 16:18
Needed: Smiling, singing, Celebrating Saints! We should take every opportunity and excuse to celebrate the successes and milestones of the people in our church. From Larry’s Birthday party, to the 150th anniversary of Pine Grove Community Church; from the salvation of a soul to the baptism of a believer, let’s celebrate! Let the party begin!
The more we celebrate God’s goodness, the more successful our church will be. Let us be known as rejoicing, redeemed, Christians who are growing daily and celebrating it with great rejoicing!
[i] https://earlychurchhistory.org/medicine/ancient-jews-cleanliness/ Purification was required of all Jews before they could enter the Temple or participate in major festivals. One hundred mikvehs (ceremonial baths) have been found by Hebrew University’s Benjamin Mazar around the wall adjacent to Herod’s Temple.
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